On September 12, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce released the 2023 List of Top 500 Chinese Private Enterprises. Sichuan has 10 private enterprises on the list, including: New Hope Group, Tongwei Group, Tranvic Group, Lanrun Group, Desheng Group, Kelun Group, Metallurgical Group, Tianqi Lithium Corporation, Sichuan Quxin Technology Group, and Chengdu Jiaolong Port.

This list brings together the best private enterprises in China and indicates the development trend of Chinese private economy. What changes have occurred in Sichuan's private economy in the past decade? We may not get the whole picture, but we can get some insight from this list.

Listed Sichuan enterprises grow in scale and strength

Over the past decade, the number of listed Sichuan enterprises has fluctuated. From 2014 to 2023, Sichuan has 13, 11, 13, 10, 8, 11, 12, 8, 9 and 10 enterprises on the list.

Although the number of listed Sichuan enterprises fluctuates, their scale and strength are constantly increasing. Over the past decade, as the entry threshold for the list has climbed from 9.122 billion yuan to 27.578 billion yuan in annual operation revenue, the total revenue of listed Sichuan enterprises has more than doubled from 440.6 billion yuan to 897.295 billion yuan. The New Hope Group, an established company, has seen its revenue grow 2.6 times in a decade.

The industrial structure of listed Sichuan enterprises has also improved. Over the past decade, Sichuan enterprises have kept pace with the times, grown with the country, and engaged in strategic emerging industries such as new energy, new materials, and electronic information.

For example, Tianqi Lithium Corporation, which is new to the list this year, has seized the development opportunity of the lithium battery industry in recent years and expanded its business to foreign markets, ranking 299th on the list with revenue of 40.44888 billion yuan. Tongwei Group, which shifted to photovoltaic industry, has achieved rapid growth. In 2014, it ranked 51st on the list with revenue of 46.11678 billion yuan. Ten years later, it rose to 28th with revenue of 214.88237 billion yuan. This year, Tongwei Group also ranked among the top 20 private manufacturing enterprises in China.

"On the whole, the industrial structure of listed Sichuan enterprises has been continuously optimized, and their capabilities of technological innovation, brand building and market development have been significantly improved," said Sheng Yi, a researcher at the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences.

In addition, traditional enterprises are breaking new ground. Most of the listed Sichuan enterprises are engaged in traditional manufacturing, especially ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing (such as steel and ferroalloys). In 2014, five Sichuan enterprises in this industry were on the list, and three remained on the list in 2023. But these traditional enterprises are accelerating their transformation and upgrading.

"Through technological innovation and transformation, traditional enterprises have optimized their product mix." Sheng Yi said that, for example, Tranvic Group and Desheng Group have shifted from ordinary steel smelting to high-end businesses such as "vanadium titanium + steel", while Metallurgical Group has implemented all-scrap short-flow steelmaking for green development.

Meanwhile, some star enterprises are lagging behind. It can be noted that the number of listed real estate enterprises has decreased. The number of listed Sichuan real estate enterprises dropped from three in 2019 to zero this year. Lanrun Group, which shifted from real estate to pig breeding and prepared dishes, is seen as an agricultural and sideline food processor. The changes in Sichuan are part of China's economic development: Nationally, 17 real estate enterprises are on the list this year, eight fewer than last year.

Over the past decade, some enterprises have dominated the list, such as New Hope Group, Tongwei Group, Desheng Group, Kelun Group, and Chengdu Jiaolong Port. "These high-quality enterprises share some common characteristics, such as adhering to scientific and technological innovation, having good risk resistance capabilities, especially not blindly expanding in the case of a less than ideal external environment," said Li Guangjin, a professor from the Business School of Sichuan University. 

Significant gap compared with developed regions, the necessity of addressing the inadequacies

Over the past decade, Sichuan enterprises have braved the wind and waves to forge ahead, but the gap with eastern China remains significant. 

Obvious disparity in numbers: In terms of the geographical distribution of the top 500 private enterprises, 396 enterprises in eastern China were listed this year, accounting for 79.2% of the total. Among them, 108, 89, 52 and 50 enterprises from Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shandong and Guangdong were listed respectively, ranking top four for consecutive years. The "wolfpack effect" of industrial cluster development is evident.

Moreover, there is also huge room for catching up in terms of "size". For example, Sichuan's leading enterprise, New Hope Group, ranks 20th in the top 500 list, with a total revenue of 278.66414 billion yuan, while JD.com, the top-ranked company, has a total revenue of more than one trillion yuan.

In addition, Sichuan also lacks leading enterprises in the service industry. Apart from Chengdu Jiaolong Port, few enterprises in the service industry from Sichuan have made it onto the list in recent years. Chengdu Hongqi Chain Co., Ltd. was once listed as the 500th on "China's Top 500 Private Enterprises in 2016", but it has not been listed again in the following years.

"The service industry is divided into producer services and consumer services. In Sichuan, the service industry is dominated by consumer services, such as catering and hotels." Li Guangjin said that Sichuan also needs to accelerate the cultivation of leading enterprises in producer service industries such as financial services, modern logistics, and software and information technology services.

Focusing on inadequacies, Sichuan is making efforts. "In terms of cultivating subjects, Sichuan will implement the 'new Jiaozi' leading action and establish a cross-level incentive mechanism for annual revenue and an annual contribution reward mechanism for key enterprises of the service (commerce) industry, to cultivate a group of leading enterprises," said an official from the Sichuan Provincial Department of Commerce. 

In the field of manufacturing, Sichuan is also accelerating the cultivation of a number of leading private enterprises. "By organizing and implementing pilot programs for cultivating leading manufacturing enterprises and carrying out the Mount Gongga Action Plan involving manufacturing enterprises, Sichuan will promote the cultivation of high-growth and high-quality enterprises to drive the development of industrial enterprises in the province," said Zeng Jiming, Deputy Director-General of the Sichuan Provincial Economic and Information Department.

An analysis of the list also shows that China's top 500 private enterprises are accelerating industrial upgrading, with enterprises in digital economy, new energy, new material, high-end equipment manufacturing, and other fields rising strongly. For instance, a decade ago, Suning and Lenovo ranked in the top two on the list, while this year, JD.com and Alibaba took the lead with strong momentum.

Aligning with the times, Sichuan is focusing on the development of characteristic competitive industries and strategic emerging industries. It has formulated a work plan for quality and output improvement in six competitive industries, including electronic information, equipment manufacturing, advanced material, energy and chemical industry, food and textile, and medicine and health.

In response to the difficulties and challenges encountered by the private economy, since the beginning of this year, the CPC Central Committee, the State Council, the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee and the People's Government of Sichuan Province have strengthened policy support, issuing the "31 measures for the private economy" and the "1+2" policy system to promote the development of the private economy... A series of policy "packages" have been introduced intensively to optimize the environment, help enterprises solve difficulties, and stimulate vitality.

"Currently, we feel that the business environment has improved, and look forward to further strengthening assistance for enterprises to solve difficulties." In recent times, many private entrepreneurs expressed the need for increased support in terms of capital, talent, and technology, especially in the process of transformation and upgrading.